Car-brake



J'. P. MALLINCKRODT,

1021.1' Brake.

(Model.)

' Nu. zzofoaaf4 Painted April 12,1881.

aff

MFETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON, D l;

UNITEDY STATES JOHN F. MALLINCKRODT,

PAT-ENT OFFICE.

OF DENVER, COLORADO.

CAR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 240,033, dated April12, 1881.

Application tiled November 16, 1880.

' a citizen of the United States, residing at Denver, in the county ofArapahoe and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Automatic Railway-Brakes;

and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, which will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, which form apart of this speciication, andin which- Figure l represents a longitudinal vertical section ot' arailwaycar truck in whichis shown the arrangement and combination ot'levers of the iirst class (fulcrum between the weight and the power) asapplied to my invention, and Fig. 2 is a similar view of a truck inwhich is shown the arrangement and combination of levers of the secondclass (weight between the fulcrum and the power) as applied to myinvention.

My invention has relation to automatic brakes for railway-oars; and itconsists in the combination, with the truck and truck-wheels, of asystem of levers, either of the first or second class, adapted to setthe brakes by the weight of the car-body and its load, substan-` tiallyas hereinafter more fully described..

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the letters H I J K represent oneside of a truckframe, (shown partially in dotted lines,) and M N thewheels.

B and B' -are cross-beams, upon which are bolted the saddles F and F',carrying respectvely the fulcrums of levers W F P and W' F' P'. At thelower ends of these levers (marked respectively P and P' are attachedthe brakeshoes S and S'. The lower part of lever WF P (to the left inthe drawings) has a lug, L, with an eye, into which is hooked a rod, A,which passes under the cross-beams B B', and is connected to the lowerend of a lever, L"', at the point marked L". Below this point the leverL' is pivoted to a swallow-fork,77 L', the other end of which isconnected to a bar, X, which is attached to the right lever W' F' P'. Inthe upper end of leverL'" is hooked a rod, R.

(Model.)

A section of the spring-board is shown at S", and S"" represents thespring.,

'I is the transom, and O is the center' plate resting thereon.

E and E' are hangers or stirrups, which conneet respectively the upper`hooked ends ot' levers W F P and W' F' P' with opposite sides of thespring-board S'".

The operation of this mechanism is as follows: The weight ofthe bodyofthe car, resting on the center plate, C, will force the outer ends ot'levers W F P W' F' P', with their brake-shoes,

against the wheels by tilting the levers upon their respective seats orsaddles on the crossbeams B B'. Thus the brakes are always set, exceptwhen the upper rod, R, is pulled in the direction of' the arrow, whichhas the ett'ect of releasing both the brake-shoes S' S from the wheelsthrough the intervening lever, L', swallow-fork L', and connecting-rodA, it being obvious that the pulling force on B must be sufficient toovercome the downward pressure exerted `by the weight ot' the car.` Thepower required to operate rod R may convenientl y be applied by means ofa direct air-pressure, as used in operating the so-called West in ghousefreight-brakes, or by the application of atmospheric pressure, as usedin the operation of'vacuuin-brakes. In both cases the hoselconnectionsbetween the cars must, of course,

be titted with couplings that will permit of the instant escape of theair by which rod R is operated when the connections are uncoupled ortorn apart.

From the foregoing it will be seen that in case one or more of the carsshould become accidentally detached from the restot' thetrain, no matterwhat is the nature ofthe power used to operate rod It to keep oft` thebrakes, these are instantly clapped on the wheels 5 and it is also plainthat in case the pulling force on rod R is intentionally stopped thebrakes will be instantly set on every car in the train. It' the releaseof the brakes is again desired, the operating power or pressure must berestored in connection with rod R.

The amount of pressure on the brake-shoes can be proportioned by therelative distances between the fulcrums F and F' from the ends of theirrespective levers. In determining these distances I make my calculationsfrom the weight ot' the bodyfot` an empty car, so that only enoughpressure is thrown on the brakeshoes to stop the car on the averagegrade of the road without sliding the wheels. Now, having onceproportioned the leverage to the weight ofthe car, it will be seen thatthis proportion is constant-thatis, it remains the same whether much orlittle is loaded on the car. If an empty car-body weighs, say, livetons, and a load of tive tons is placed upon the car, the brake-pressurewill be twice as great as it was whenl the car was empty; and this isproper, and constitutes one ot' thc chief advantages of my invention.Another advantage is that, the leverage having once been correctly jxed,there is no danger ot' sliding or iattening the wheels, no matter howlarge or how small the load.

The hand brake-rod and wheel system used heretofore for setting thebrakes I use in my construction for effecting their release, and it isplain that careless brakemen cannot flatten the wheels, as is frequentlythe case on the old-fashioned hand-brakes.

In Fig,2 of the drawings I have shown a inoditied construction of myinvention, the modication consisting simply in the substitution oflevers of the second class (with the weight between the fulcrum and thepower) for levers of the tirst class, (with the fulcrum between theweight and the power.) This substi tution requires some changes in thearrangement of the operating parts, which I shall now proceed todescribe.

The letters H I J Krepresent the truckfrarne, and M N the wheels.

F and F' are the levers, which have their fulcrums, respectively at f f'upon the crossbeams B B'. Each of the levers F F' is made with aT-shaped arm, P P', upon which the brake-shoes (denoted by S S') aresecured.

C is the center plate; T, the transom; S"", the spring, and S"', thespring-board, which is connected by the hangers W and W' to the innerends of levers F F The stays or cross-beams B B serve as guides for themovable middle part of the truck-frame, and it follows that the brakesare always set, (by the weight of the car-bod y resting upon the centerplate, 0,) except when a lifting force is applied to the outer ends oflevers F F', (marked respectively X and X'.) This force may be appliedby means ot' direct air-pressure, or by atmospheric pressure, in likemanner as described in describing the operation of the mechanism shownin Fig. l.

Having thus described my invention, Iclaim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States- The automatic-,brake mechanismcomposed of the truck-frame H I .T K, having wheels M N and cross-beamsB B', movable center, consistingof the center plate, C, transom T,spring S"", and spring-board S", hangers E E', levers W F P W' F' P',provided, respectively, with the brake-slices S and S', connecting-rodA, swallow t'ork or bifurcated link L', lever L', and rod R, allconstruct-ed and combined to operate substantially in the manner and forthe purpose herein shown and described.

JOHN F. MALLINCK RODT.

Witnesses:

H. C. WILKINSON, J. W. ToMLrNsoN.

